Burned
by NoPenNoInk
Summary: Lucy Levins isn't dead, though sometimes she wishes she was. Forced to face the truth about her fabricated life, Lucy must learn to live with her less than perfect reality and cope with her new-found abilities. But when her past comes to haunt her, will Lucy be able to walk away from all she has ever known? Or will she get burned?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back and more excited than ever to start this sequel. Comments are both super appreciated as well as important! That's right; Lucy's prospective lover depends on your comments and input, so just remember that! Pick your favorite avenger and we'll see how the story goes. Enjoy!**

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"She's barely alive as it is, and you want to interrogate her?"

"Not interrogate Banner, _question_. We need to know what the hell happened and she's our best shot at figuring it out."

_What is going on?_ Lucy thought as she regained consciousness. Slowly, she felt pins and needles flood throughout her entire body, warmth returning to her clasped, delicate fingers. She kept her eyes shut as searing white lights bore down on her lids. She knew the minute she opened them, her retinas would scream in pain.

"Well, it'll just have to wait, won't it, Fury?" a gruff voice retaliated, a hint of frustration marked in the masculine voice.

The name Fury struck a chord in Lucy's mind. Immediately, visions of a tall man dressed in black with a signature eye patch flood her mind. She felt her body tense with nerves and her heart began to beat faster. She heard various beeps and trills accompany the sound of her own speeding heartbeat. Panic rose in her throat when she realized Nick Fury was merely inches away from her. What could he possibly want from her now? She had failed in stopping Loki and died in the process.

_Am I still dead?_ Lucy pondered. She wiggled her fingers a bit, trying to dispel the annoying prick of pins and needles. No, she was certain she was alive as a dull ache enveloped her entire body. She began to feel the weight of gravity push her down once again and could hear the blood rushing to her head. She no longer felt the calm of the black, no longer was spared from the immense burning pain that her body was succumbing to. Her fingertips burned as though her hand was resting on a hot stovetop. She felt a little pinch in her arm and guessed it to be an iv of some sort.

A shuffle of footsteps lifted a bit of the burden resting over Lucy's head. She felt her heart slow a bit and she began to think straight again. She let her mind roll over the past seventy four hours and painfully recollected what happened to her, minute by minute.

Lucy heard an audible sigh fill the room. A heavy presence hung over her, like a dark raincloud. She felt an immense amount of sadness fill her up. She wondered who "Banner" was, and what he was so miserable about. She could feel two grave eyes bore into her. She remained perfectly still as though her life depended on it. A warm, rough hand brushed hair off her forehead in a nervous, jolting fashion. Lucy picked up a great deal of edginess from the mysterious Banner.

The pressure lifted as she heard a few light footsteps patter against the floor. Slowly, Lucy opened her eyes and shuddered at the burning sensation. Tears welled up in the corners of her dark, ominous eyes, but she forced them to remain open. Quickly, she scanned the small room and found there was not a single window or a splotch of color other than grey or white. She was surrounded by an army of beeping and trilling machines, connected to her at various limbs and appendages.

Lucy wondered if this was what it would have felt like for Max if he had woken up. But she would never get the chance to ask him.

A man dressed in a dark violet shirt and slacks had his back turned to her. His hair was a curly mess from behind, dark hair spotted with peppery gray, denoting he was either older or extremely stressed. He ran a large, worn hand through his handsomely wild hair.

"Would've been better off dead, kid," He muttered to the wall.

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat and breathed sharply.

"Being dead gets boring after the first five minutes," Lucy said. Her voice was so raggedy she hardly even recognized it. "I would know," she added, her brows shooting upward toward her scalp, causing ripples in the skin on her forehead.

The man known as Banner whipped around suddenly and removed a pair of wire rimmed glasses from his face. Slowly, he approached Lucy with a look of astonishment.

Lucy let her eyes roll over him slowly. He had an attractive face despite the small, indiscrete wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. His eyes were dark and warm, sparkling with intelligence. Scruff adorned his chin and his cheeks.

Lucy felt a blush grow rosy on her freckled cheeks. She wasn't expecting him to be so handsome, despite the obvious age difference between the two. Lucy's baby face along with her dark, large eyes and rosy cheeks often made her look sixteen instead of twenty two. Overwhelmed with sudden nervousness, Lucy tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. Why was she nervous? It wasn't like this man was interested in her. Besides, she was under the assumption that he was a doctor of some sort, from the frazzled look and obvious intelligence. He probably knew every little niche in her personality, every insignificant moment in her short twenty two years. There was no doubt he knew about her abilities; in fact, he probably knew more about her life than she did. He had probably seen her naked…

_Oh God where is my mind?_ Lucy scolded herself. She felt her face grow hot and figured it was bright red as it always got when she felt uncomfortable.

"How are you alive?" he asked her straight. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed with his glasses clasped in his hand.

Lucy wondered the same thing herself. People just don't die and come back to life minutes later, except on those corny soap operas. What had happened to her was impossible – a miracle, she thought. Then again, many impossible things had happened to her quite recently. Suddenly, impossible began to lose some of its meaning.

Lucy shrugged in defeat. "I should be asking you, since you're the doctor," Lucy concluded. She scanned Banner for a medical tag or some sort of identification. She found no definite mark of any certification or doctorate the man might carry. "You _are _a doctor, right?" Lucy asked, a bit of panic in her voice.

Banner chuckled a bit and smiled very slightly. Lucy liked the sight of his perfectly straight white teeth under his two large, pink lips. She wondered if he smiled often, but she doubted it. He gave off the air of a very somber man. He exuded complete doom and gloom, even as he sat a foot away from Lucy's reach.

"Yes, Doctor Bruce Banner at your service," he told her. Lucy sighed in relief and slouched a bit. A growing sensation of pain in her chest began to overwhelm her, but she remained focused. She closed her eyes and put all of her remaining energy into staying conscious.

"Now that I answered your question, I was hoping you'd answer one of mine," Bruce said in a quiet, reserved voice. Lucy's eyes opened again and she leaned forward. Bruce seemed to lean back, his edge growing. It made Lucy nervous as well.

"Why is Nick Fury so utterly terrified of you?" He asked, his voice a low whisper.

"It's more of a show than tell," Lucy murmured. "Give me your hand," she instructed Doctor Banner.

Bruce's face turned an impossible shade of red. He stood up nervously and busied himself with a clipboard overflowing with paper.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Bruce told her. "I'm afraid I'm a show myself," Bruce said in a mutter Lucy figured wasn't intended for her ears. She wondered what Bruce was so scared of. He reacted similar to a thirteen year old boy would if asked about a girl. Every movement was marked with a certain preteen awkwardness that Lucy couldn't help but notice. Lucy herself felt a bit uncomfortable as well as she realized she probably came off as some sort of vixen or flirt when she hadn't intended to.

She decided then she liked Bruce, even if he was a bit discomfited. She thought it odd how he found him attractive despite the fact he was quite the opposite of Loki.

Loki, who had tried to _kill_ her. Perhaps she should rethink her type in men.

Lucy felt a sudden chill roll over her like thick fog. She involuntarily began to shake and clenched her teeth together to stop them from chattering. Sweat rolled down her back and her palms felt clammy. The pain in her chest doubled. The familiar sensation of nausea washed over her. She began to jitter, too embarrassed to tell Bruce of her current condition. She swallowed down the taste of acid and began to slouch back onto the bed. Her mouth become dry and her tongue felt too fat for her mouth. The light her eyes adjusted to once again seared her vision like the sun itself beating down its vicious rays

Lucy clasped the bed sheet to stop herself from screaming with pain. Fire burned in her chest, red hot, flames licking every inch of her skin. Lucy bit the side of her cheek until she tasted blood, hot and coppery.

She heard the sound of the heart monitor going crazy before she noticed her own heart beat. The beat was fast and off tempo, like a terrible marching band. Lucy wanted to call out for the preoccupied Dr. Banner, but found she couldn't breathe, not to mention speak.

_What is happening to me?_ Lucy thought in fear.

She didn't want to die again. Life was a particularly shitty alternative, but she'd rather suffer alive then feel nothing at all. She held on to the sounds of her heart as her vision fell in and out of focus, darkness creeping though her peripheral vision.

She heard a clatter of metal and two large, rough hands jostle her roughly. A ringing occupied her hearing now, and the fear began to rise with the nausea. Searing pain ripped apart her chest like a serrated blade, drawing back and forth, dull and repetitive.

Bruce Banner heard the frantic bleeps on the heart monitor and looked up to find Lucy Levins practically dead. Her deep, thoughtful brown eyes were glassy and shallow. Sweat formed in ringlets across her forehead, but her entire body shivered with a chill. Her chest rose abnormally and her heart beat far too fast to survive for long. He dropped his clipboard and scuffled to Lucy's side.

There were two effective ways of stopping heart palpitations that Dr. Banner knew of.

Dr. Banner grabbed Lucy's shoulders without the shyness or hesitation he felt before. Her body was limp with a rag doll, her mouth slightly ajar.

"Lucy, if you can hear me, cough as much as you can," he yelled frantically. He shook her a bit, but received no response. Her breathing was irregular and shallow, but there was still oxygen entering her body. He set her down and tried the next method.

He clamped shut her mouth and pinched her nostrils closed. Lucy began to writhe and fight him off, which was a relief. He held his hands there until he saw her heart rate spike, and return to normal. With a sigh of relief he released Lucy. She sunk back into the hospital bed and her eyes began to lull shut. Right before she drifted, she parted her lips.

"Don't let me die again," she whispered before her eyes shut. Her heart staggered back to a normal, regular beat and Bruce Banner nearly collapsed from fear. He still felt the warmth from her breath tingle on his ear.

He checked his own heart rate, which was teetering on the level of dangerous. He grasped the metal footrest of the bed and repeated a mantra in his head until he felt himself calm a bit. Slowly, he felt his shoulders creep back from the tense mess they were moments ago. He exhaled a slow breath and ran a nervous hand through his messy hair.

He looked over Lucy with curious eyes. Although quite small in stature and weak from head to toe, Nick Fury seemed to be rather concerned. In fact, he seemed downright terrified of her. Bruce didn't understand how anyone could be scared of her with her small, round face and tiny, soft hands. He thought of her dark, encompassing eyes and couldn't find a hint of malice in them. She was the textbook definition of innocence. She seemed to be of average intelligence from the conversation he had and didn't seem to be terribly athletic or trained in any form of martial arts.

The only possible explanation was that she was some sort of mutant, just like the rest of them. Why had she asked for his hand before? Obviously she had some sort of power or talent that made Nick Fury quiver in his eye patch.

"She's cute, isn't she Banner?" Bruce heard in the familiar voice of Tony Stark. Bruce smirked and faced the well dressed Stark with a remark of his own.

"She's also twenty two," He reminded Stark with a disapproving shake of his head. "A little too young for either of us old men."

"I think that's just what you need, Dr. Banner; some young, cute thing to remind you life doesn't have to be all doom and gloom for the jolly green giant," Stark battled back. He snatched the clipboard from the floor and scanned over Lucy's private medical records. "Gamma radiation?" He questioned as he scanned Dr. Banner's notes.

Banner heaved a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. Oddly enough, when he ran tests on her, he found hints of gamma radiation, but just barely. He was just as stumped at Tony Stark when he stumbled upon the information, but put it aside as a mere coincidence or some sort of miff. He had to concentrate on managing to keep her alive long enough to get back detailed test results.

"Yeah, I found hints of it in her DNA when I ran the first set of tests," Banner told Stark. "As a matter of fact, I better take some blood now and see if it changed at all," Banner said. Quickly, he drew blood and carefully put a single drop on the thin glass. Stark messed with his computers as he slid the glass under a microscope. Bruce managed to shut out the noise Tony Stark insisted on making, including the slightly annoying whistling he was doing.

Banner's brows knitted as he watched the DNA mutate before his eyes. His stomach dropped as they exhibited the same behavior as his, her cells warping and bending. He didn't understand; why was the gamma mutating her DNA now, when she wasn't being exposed? DNA can't simply change because it feels like it.

Then again, a person can't rise from the dead just because they feel like it. But Lucy seemed to prove that wrong as well.

Bruce Banner felt a dull ache creep from his temples. He could barely handle his condition, and now he was going to have to handle hers too? It was too much for one man, green monster or not.

"Doctor Banner, your presence is requested in the central chamber," JARVIS informed him. Tony had been kind enough to download JARVIS into his lab computers in SHIELD. Well, actually Bruce hadn't even asked Tony; Tony sort of insisted on it.

"Someone's in trouble!" Tony said just as a twelve year old would when called down to the principal.

"Fury is to know nothing about the gamma," Bruce told Tony in a stern, assertive voice. Tony saluted him jokingly, but Bruce knew the secret was safe within the confines of Tony's very messy but genius mind. If Fury found out about the gamma, Lucy would be shut away, probably for good, with only strings and strings of tests being run all hours of the day to look forward to. No, he would deal with this one on his own.

He could vouch for a life full of tests, full of constant fear of hurting anyone or anything in a twenty mile radius. He knew the torture, and there was no way he'd let little Lucy Levins have to know it too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2! I can't believe I'm writing again, it feels so good! Thanks for the wonderful praise, it makes me so giddy whenever I hear the little ding on my phone when I get a new email, hoping its a review, or favorite, or something as equally as awesome. I get so super happy when I see you guys are really enjoying this story. I added a bit of your favorite villain, so enjoy!**

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Bruce Banner stood firmly planted to the floor and glanced around the central chamber. It was mostly made up of machines he didn't know the purpose of, and a large glass jail cell that had been designed exclusively for the Other Guy. Fury really rolled out the red carpet for him, Bruce had to admit. Fitted with the strongest metal on the face of the planet and a collapsing floor with a deadly drop.

Well, deadly for any other living thing other than _him._

But it wasn't pride that filled Bruce at the thought of practical immortality – rather, absolute misery. He couldn't even _die _correctly. Really, the list of things Bruce Banner could do properly was a very limited list in his mind. He was particularly good at destroying everything he cared for and solving every other problem than his own. Bruce's only purpose was to clean up the mess the Other Guy made. He wasn't a doctor; he was a butler.

"Dr. Banner, glad to see you got my message," Nick Fury interrupted. Bruce looked up to find the intimidating man standing above him, hovering like a god, waiting to strike him down. Slowly and rhythmically, he worked his way down the stairs, never shifting his eyes from Bruce's. Bruce didn't respond and instead remained planted to the floor, one eye on the heart monitor on his watch.

"You probably already know the subject of this meeting, so I won't waste your time. SHIELD has decided to retain your current patient, Lucy Levins, for both a debriefing and study," Nick Fury said, his voice cool and controlled.

Bruce's thick brows knitted together in confusion. Study? What did that mean? She wasn't some rat in a maze. They couldn't just prick and prod her because they felt like it. Dangerous or not, Lucy Levins was a human being – she was practically a kid. She hadn't done anything wrong. Sure, she had been involved with Loki, but she had never killed anyone. Bruce had looked at every document that he could get his hands on – he doubted she could hurt a fly.

"We have a series of tests we would like you to administer-"

"She's a girl, not a monster," Bruce interjected. He gave Fury a look of pure frustration, and he thought he saw a flicker in Fury's eye.

"Yes, and she will be treated like a girl. These tests will not bring any harm to her. You may add any and all tests you think are necessary," Fury ordered him as he slipped a manila folder between Banner's fingers. "And she will be questioned about the Tesseract," Fury told him.

"So I take it that the Tesseract still hasn't been located," Banner murmured as he scanned the tests he was ordered to run.

From what he saw, the tests were pretty simple. Blood tests, urine tests, CAT scans, et cetera. Typical tests yes, but a plethora. He didn't want to do these, but he didn't see much of a choice. Refuse, and Fury would just get some lackey to do it anyway. At least he could make it as painless as possible.

"No, not yet. We would like you to help us locate it, utilizing your skill and knowledge in gamma radiation. The sooner it is found, the better is it for Ms. Levins. Naturally, she will remain here until it is located," Fury informed Banner. Nick Fury turned his back toward Bruce and began to walk back up the stairs to his elusive office space. He paused between a stair and looked back down at Bruce.

"She is dangerous, especially in regards to you Dr. Banner,"

"And what exactly does that mean?" Bruce asked, annoyed at the cryptic message. He felt a small throbbing pain right about his eyebrow.

"I suggest you glance over the case file waiting for you in your lab as soon as possible," Fury hinted. He gave one last parting glance and left Banner alone to drown in a multitude of thoughts. Banner shook his head and made his way to the lab he shared with Stark. He would need to start running searches in order to locate the Tesseract. The sooner he found it, the sooner Lucy would get to leave and return to whatever remained of her life. Bruce guessed it probably wasn't much, but it was better than being locked up like a criminal.

Bruce left the central chamber with heavy, begrudged steps. He headed towards the lab and was relieved the find Tony was off gallivanting somewhere else. Bruce punched in the security code and reveled in the utter silence that filled the lab. With careful, precise fingers he launched the same program he had used before when locating the Tesseract. With a simple click, the computer began to search for possible locations. Bruce glanced at the process bar and realized it would be a while before any viable locations were found.

Leisurely, Bruce sat down in the leather swivel chair and closed his heavy eyes for a few moments. He had been working nonstop for the past three days, monitoring Lucy, checking her vitals, running a few meager tests. He dragged his open palms over his face and rested his fists under his chin. With eyes closed, he saw Lucy's cells mutate and morph, the shapes memorized in his genius brain. They had looked so similar to his when he went under gamma radiation.

But she wasn't being exposed! It didn't make any sense to Bruce. There was absolutely no logical explanation to the evolution of Lucy's DNA. Cells and DNA just don't change because they want to. Something forces evolution. But what was forcing Lucy to change? Had she been previously exposed and not only until recently were the effects starting to show? Perhaps the stress had caused the mutations to rapidly occur.

There was something Bruce was missing, some variable he had yet to figure out. In his mind he saw Lucy's angelic face, her lips parted slightly, her chest rising and falling. He heard her voice, crystal clear, and sweeter than honey.

He snapped his eyes open and shook his head. She was a kid, no, she was a patient. His job was to administer tests and treatment and that was all. She was to be considered a field of study, not a charming woman. He repeated the mantra until he regained focus. He remembered his objective was to get her the hell out of SHIELD as soon as possible.

From the corner of his eye he spotted a thick manila folder on his desk. He wheeled his chair over and slid the rubber band off the folder. Papers were just about the burst out of the thin folder as they stuck out jagged and unorganized. In the pit of his stomach, Bruce knew what the folder was.

Slowly, Bruce opened the folder and began to read.

* * *

Lucy felt a warm, delicate hand encompass her small, petite one. She recognized the feeling of the slender fingers and memorized the way they slipped between hers perfectly. Her eyes fluttered open and she felt an extreme lightness in her head as well as her chest.

Lucy consumed every inch of his supple, flawless skin. She loved the way his thin, pink lips had a smirk played upon them. His green eyes sparkled as though they knew a secret she would never understand, and that brought such ecstasy to her. His ink black hair was swept off his angelic face as usual. She tried to catch her breath, but she knew it was futile. As long as he was next to her, she would never been able to breathe properly.

"Loki," she gasped, her heart about to burst from her chest. A dizzying light blared behind him and highlighted his handsome features. Lucy wanted to stroke his razor sharp cheekbones and kiss his perfectly chiseled jaw. She let her eyes wander to his neck and raptured in the way it connected to his strong, wide shoulders.

"Oh Lucy, my little bird, how beautiful you look," he whispered. Lucy felt his warm lips brush against her ear and she was consumed with an intense wanting that gnawed at her heart. "Please forgive me, little one," he begged in a sultry, sexy voice. Lucy felt her head spin with desire.

"I betrayed you," Lucy squeaked, tears burning her eyes. "But what you did was wrong," she whispered. Loki bowed his head in shame and squeezed Lucy's hand hard. "I will forgive you, if you will do the same," Lucy wagered with him.

Loki's perfectly green eyes bore into Lucy and sucked her lungs of any air she had managed to inhale. She felt herself tumbling in his dark gaze and felt a passionate craving for his kiss, his touch, his gentle voice.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, little bird," Loki said. He rested his forehead against Lucy's but kept his shining eyes on hers. Lucy's felt his warmth radiated against her skin, keeping her warm and safe.

"Please don't hurt anyone else, Loki," Lucy begged. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Lucy could taste the air grow salty and muggy, suffocating her. Loki placed a gentle kiss on her lips, sensual and slow.

"I cannot promise that, my love." He murmured as he tugged on her hand

Lucy jolted forward as sweat dripped down her face. Wildly, she glanced around the room in confusion as she looked for Loki desperately. But just as mysteriously as he came, he had vanished into thin air.

Lucy's fingers were netted to a hand, but it wasn't a familiar one. She didn't recognize the feeling of the supple but strong palms or the warmth that radiated from them. She had never held Steve's hand before and she wondered why she was now.

Lucy studied Steve Rogers' face and found him to look a bit worried. His clear, blue eyes were glimmering in the bright fluorescents and he had a boyish blush on his cheeks. He quickly ripped his hand from Lucy's, the blush a deeper red. He glanced down at the floor tiles and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Sorry, I just noticed you were getting restless. I figured you were having a nightmare," Steve apologized.

"How long have you been here?" Lucy asked with rapid fire. Her heart felt like a sinking weight, heaving and cold in her chest. Her stomach did what felt like millions of somersaults in her abdomen. Her lips tingled and burned with a gentle warmth.

"I-I'm not sure," Steve stuttered, the look of embarrassment returning to his face.

_It was all a dream_ Lucy though, melancholy. She could've sworn it had been real – it _felt _real. The way his hand fit just perfect with hers, the velvety warmth of his voice, his soft, lithe lips against hers. Disappointed flooded Lucy's senses.

"Never mind," Lucy whispered.

Her heart plummeted to the cold, tile floor. Absolute heart break filled Lucy to the top, about to spill out all over the place. She had been so sure, so certain that he had come back for her, ready to devote himself to her again, just as before. She knew it was in his power to come back, to sweep Lucy off her feet and take her away to some place no one would ever find them. She felt alone, she felt betrayed, she felt wretched.

He could've killed her nine hundred times and yet her heart would patter miserably even at his name. Lucy still loved him unconditionally, even if he was cold, unfeeling, evil. She ached for his kiss, his touch…the devilish look in his eye. She wondered where he was and if he thought of her as she did him.

The doubt began to eat her alive. Loneliness consumed her weak heart until she no longer wanted to even breathe.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, his face swooped down to look at Lucy's. Lucy tucked her cheek against her shoulder and reminded herself why she should carry on with her miserable existence.

"No," she muttered, too exhausted to even put on a cheesy smile.


End file.
